Leaked Document: “Facts” And “Evidence” Not Considered When Adding Americans To Terror Lists

A newly leaked government document reveals that agencies such as the NSA, CIA, and FBI do not require or seek “concrete facts” or “irrefutable evidence” that someone is a terrorist before adding them to official watch lists.

Indeed, the National Counterterrorism Center document reveals that the rules for adding Americans to databases such as the “no-fly list” are so broad in scope, that only a “reasonable suspicion” is needed to add someone who might commit “violent acts”or engage in “intimidation or coercion” at some point in the future. Government agents now need only what is vaguely referred to as “fragmentary information” in order to put names on the lists.

The 166-page document was written as a guidance to government terrorism watch lists by officials at the Pentagon, as well as the major government intelligence agencies. While the document is unclassified, it’s key points were “quietly approved” by President Obama.

The document was made public by The Intercept, the website for which journalist Glenn Greenwald now writes.

The document also reveals that people who have been acquitted in court of terrorism charges are kept on the databases owing to the fact that they “may nevertheless meet the REASONABLE SUSPICION standard.” The government considers it appropriate for such candidates to “remain on, or be nominated to, the Terrorist Watchlist.”